No . 133 The Trusty Servant
given that the College had owned the adjoining Park Farm since 1861 . Altham wrote that Broadhalfpenny Down ‘ is back in turf again , safe and secure , we may hope for all time , in the pious keeping of Winchester College ’, although he also noted that ‘ time has not dealt kindly with The Bat and Ball .’
Down between 23 rd and 25 th June 1772 , with £ 550 at stake . The Hambledon side , including the great Richard Nyren and Old John Small , won by 53 runs , notwithstanding the first recorded appearance at Hambledon of the great Lumpy Stevens playing for England . It was in the same fixture three years later at the Artillery Ground in Finsbury Square that Lumpy bowled three deliveries through Small ’ s wicket without dislodging his bail , leading to the introduction of the third stump .
Following the establishment of the MCC , the isolated spot on the South Downs lost its lustre . Hambledon acquired a ground at Windmill Down , closer to the village , and the land returned to agriculture , through the Enclosure Act of 1857 and various changes of farmers ’ hands . In 1908 a granite memorial was unveiled at a memorial match involving CB Fry , from the nearby naval training school TS Mercury , where he had recently taken charge . This was the first match at Broadhalfpenny Down for 116 years .
Summer cricket , 1938
55 ), Housedon of Chernocke House ( 27-47 ), president of Hampshire Cricket Club and the MCC , Chairman of test selectors in 1954 , and author of A History of Cricket ( 1926 ) and the MCC Cricket Coaching Book ( 1952 ), the former described by Don Bradman ( move aside John Nyren ) as ‘ the finest history of cricket ever written .’
He persuaded Winchester College to buy Broadhalfpenny Down in 1925 , in order to ‘ protect and preserve it ’. The acquisition made sense ,
Where time has dealt unkindly with the pub , its fortunes have fared better under George Gale and now Fullers . Since 1961 the ground itself has been leased to the Broadhalfpenny Brigands , who play a busy fixture list including the Old Wykehamists . The Broadhalfpenny Down Preservation Trust was established in 2010 to protect and preserve the ground , and also offer opportunities to the wider community , including matches for youth , disability and visually impaired teams .
The anniversary of the 1772 match is being celebrated all year in Hambledon and at Broadhalfpenny Down , starting with a match on what happily ( climate-change considerations aside ) turned out to
That Winchester College now owns Broadhalfpenny Down , and that the cradle of cricket has been preserved , is largely thanks to Harry Altham , don at Winchester for over 40 years ( 1913-
New Year ’ s cricket , 2022
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